Chasing a pot-bellied pig around Aras an Uachtarain’s grounds, tracking a seven-foot snake in a public park and rescuing a fox trapped in a basement – it’s all in a day’s work for animal welfare officer Gillian Duffy.

At 9am the headquarters of the Dublin Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is already a hive of activity.

Calls for help are flooding into the control room, the hub of the centre’s operations.

Demands on its services have never been as great, up by 51% in the past 12 months.

Lorna Swift, who is usually the voice at the other end of the phone, said: “The number of calls to our centre have increased beyond our capacity.

“The control room is where it all begins. We take the call and then assess what to do next.”

Where cases of animal cruelty are suspected, it’s a job for the inspector and when animals have been abandoned, injured or lost the welfare officer is sent to investigate.

Animal Welfare officer Gillian Duffy has seen a lot in her seven years with the organisation but she is still shocked sometimes at the level of torture she sees.

The mum of one said: “Cruelty was one part of the job I really was clueless about before I came here.

Burning

One of the worst cases for her involved a little Jack Russell terrier who was burnt alive by a group of lads in Finglas.

She added: “The lads decided to pour petrol on the dog, set it alight and then threw her over the wall into a lady’s back garden as she was burning.

“The little mite was only a year old. I just couldn’t believe there were people who could do this.”

Gillian says there is no excuse either for puppies or kittens being dumped into rivers.

She added: “If you can’t afford them give them to somebody who will care for them or hand them over to an animal welfare organisation.”

The kindness of most ordinary citizens makes up for the evil actions of the few.

Gillian mentions an instance where a man was passing a rubbish bin on the street and heard whimpering.

She said: “It was at the beginning of summer when the weather was still cold enough and when he opened the plastic bag in the bin he found two puppies who had been dumped there.

“They were actually suffering from hypothermia but thankfully he brought them to the Garda station and gardai transported them to the veterinary clinic in UCD where they were treated and then given to us.

“They are now happily rehomed. You’d end up an emotional wreck if there wasn’t positive things to the job.”

The former beauty therapist was accepted into the Garda but swapped a job in the force to work with animals.

She explained: “I had a beauty salon for years which I closed and was just waiting for the background checks and medical stuff to be done before going to Templemore.”

While waiting she made a decision that would ultimately change her life.

She continued: “I decided to volunteer at the DSPCA and was here for about a year while waiting for the Garda [to get back].

“I absolutely loved it and just a week before I was due to leave for Templemore the manager offered me a job here and I decided to take it.

The animal-lover hasn’t looked back. She said: “No two days are the same, it really is varied.”